An international watchdog says land mines leave about 100 casualties in Afghanistan on monthly basis.
According to a report released, there were more than 600 casualties in 2016 in Afghanistan compared to the year 2015 which shows Afghanistan at the top of the list.
“The statistics show that every month we have about 100 victims due to [land mine explosions] in Afghanistan,” Islamuddin Mohammadi Executive Director of Afghan Landmine Survivors Organization (ALSO) said on Thursday,” most of these causalities have occurred due to roadside and sticky bombs explosions.”
“78 percent of the victims were civilians and 42 percent of those causalities were children. After Yemen, it is reported that Afghanistan was having the highest number of causalities,” Amena Azimi member of the also added.
While the number of casualties from land mines increased in Afghanistan, the government has decreased 80 percent the budged allocated for victim assistance.
Officials also accept that so far much has not been done for mine victims in Afghanistan.
“Unfortunately, no considerable assistance has been provided to the victims and disabled so far,” Sayed Alem Hashimi, a government official from the Afghan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled confessed.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in its annual report released on Thursday that there were 8,605 casualties, including 2,089 deaths, from mines in 2016 across the globe.
The group attributed the increased casualties largely to armed conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine and Yemen, adding that use of improvised mines and other IEDs by anti-government elements in 2016 and 2017 resulted in further casualties.
The use of improvised mines in Afghanistan is mainly attributed to the Taliban, Haqqani Network and so-called Islamic State (IS) also known as Deash.
By Hesamuddin Hesam & Bais Hayat
Ariananews
